A labor union for Internet workers may seem
counterintuitive because industry jobs are
plentiful and wages are well above the norm.
Nonetheless, some major union officials,
including the 630,000-member
Communications Workers of America in
Washington, D.C., are eyeing computer
engineers, programmers and Web designers
as potential recruits to their ranks.

In Gotham, an Internet executive and a
vocal labor advocate are pushing for a
Net-only kind of union. A union would likely
work to secure health-care coverage and
retirement benefits for freelancers, as well
as lobby for collective-bargaining rights to
mediate contract disputes. It could also
create a Web-based pipeline to alert workers
about job openings.

A union's main purpose would be to protect
freelancers when the job market turns sour,
explains Immanuel Ness, a vocal labor
advocate and political science professor at
Brooklyn College, who is pushing the notion
with Dick Jones, VP of business development
for a New York-based Web design shop,
Progressive Internet Alternatives.

Many New Yorkers are doubtful that such a
movement would be appealing to the city's
full-time Web workers. The freelance
community, which by some estimates
represents 20 percent of New York's 189,000
new-media employees, may be a different
story.

In January, 250 people attended a weekend
bull session set up by Ness and Jones.
Dubbed "The Labor Online Conference," the
gathering was focused in part on gauging
interest for, and promoting the formation of,
a labor union for the city's tech workers.

"There is not at this point a major
groundswell of support in Silicon Alley for
organizing a union. I say that somewhat
regretfully," observes Jones, who has
become more or less synonymous with the
new-media union "movement" in New York
since his essay outlining its benefits was
published in January on the @NY site. Jones
and Ness admit their platform is incomplete.

Critics of the union idea maintain it would
add layers of costs to an already expensive
place to do business. And worse, some fear
it could mean the difference between a New
York firm winning and losing business.

"I happen to think that what [Jones] is
proposing is dangerous," says Eric Goldberg,
president and founder of New York-based
Crossover Technologies. "We've seen unions
strangle this city before. Why would you
want to do that again?"

Goldberg, a member of the New York New
Media Association, acknowledges that many
of the Alley's rookie Web workers are toiling
for long hours at relatively low wages. And,
unlike many West Coast firms, most New
York companies don't offer their junior
employees equity stakes in the business,
creating wider wage disparities between
management and the average line worker.